History Talk, the history podcast from Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

Ohio State University Department of History faculty experts discuss the historical context of Election 2020. Panelists include: Paula Baker, Associate Professor, Department of History; Nicholas Breyfogle, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director of the Goldberg Center; Susan Hartman, Professor Emerita, Department of History; Clay Howard, Associate Professor, Department of History; a...

Ohio State University experts Melissa Beard Jacob, Ph. D., and Associate Professor Daniel Rivers discuss Indigenous Peoples' Day and the history of Indigenous People. Dr. Jacob is the Intercultural Specialist for Native American and indigenous Students and Dr. Rivers is a faculty member in the Department of History. This webinar was held by the College of Arts & Sciences and the Department of Hist...

As national governments and the global scientific community struggle to contain the spread of the coronavirus, they have also spent the last few months confronting a different type of outbreak. Misinformation about the current public health crisis—which has either denied the existence of the virus entirely or framed it as an intentional product—has proliferated at an alarming rate. It has also enj...

On the surface, HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 seem as dissimilar as two viruses could possibly be. Yet, the ways in which the Soviet Union reacted to the arrival of HIV/AIDS, and how it spread in the first years of the outbreak, yield valuable insights into our current coronavirus pandemic. Written by Svetlana Ter-Grigoryan. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is availa...

A conversation with Ohio State University Department of History faculty members, John Brooke, Jennifer Eaglin and Samuel White about the historical context of climate change. An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/historytalk/climate-change-insights-history

In geologic years, the Galapagos Islands are infants. Located on the perpetually moving Nazca tectonic plate, the islands were formed through repeated volcanic activity. Layer by layer, the islands have risen off the ocean floor, forming a chain that is approximately five million years old. Find out more in this piece written by David Bernstein and narrated by Nicholas Breyfogle. (A text version o...

On the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment the Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences hosted a conversation with a panel of experts. They discussed the legacy of enfranchisement, especially for women of color; the ongoing gender disparity in elected officials; and how history informs the 2020 election. An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins...

On August 25th, 1944, the Allies liberated Paris from Nazi occupation, ending more than four years of fear, hunger, and death. Learn more about this important moment in World War II, as well as the soldiers and civilians who took part in the liberation. Written and narrated by Lauren Henry. A textual version of this video is available at http://origins.osu.edu/milestones/the.... This is a producti...

From Mao Zedong to Martin Luther King Jr., China has a long and complex history of interaction with African American movements for equal rights. Please join Ohio State University’s Melvin Barnes Jr. and Princeton University’s James Watson-Krips as they discuss Barnes’ research on the history of Chinese-African American interactions from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter. An in-text v...

When we reflect on the history of government response to natural disasters such as plagues, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and now Covid-19, we discover that the expectation that central governments should play a role in recovering from such disasters can be traced back to the actions of three Roman emperors of the 1st century. This video traces the historic roots of disaster response....

The Black Death was the second pandemic of bubonic plague and the most devastating pandemic in world history. It was a descendant of the ancient plague that had afflicted Rome, from 541 to 549 CE, during the time of emperor Justinian. The bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, persisted for centuries in wild rodent colonies in Central Asia and, somewhere in the early 1300s, mutat...

James Esposito explores the history of the respirator and cloth mask. "Because of COVID-19, N95 respirators and cloth masks—their availability and their efficacy—now dominate the news and are at the heart of often vitriolic public debates. Both futuristic and somehow archaic at the same time, millions now depend on their use to prevent infection of a potentially deadly illness." Written by James E...

As the world grapples with the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, it is important to remember that this is not the first but rather the seventh human coronavirus that scientists have discovered since the mid-1960s (four of which just cause a common cold in humans). A text version of this audio is available at http://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/sars-coronavirus-pandemic-comparison This content is...

"Pandemics: Past, Present, Future" features experts from the Department of History at Ohio State University. From plague to influenza and HIV, learn about the history of global pandemics from our faculty in order to better understand the current Coronavirus pandemic. An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/historytalk/pandemics-past-present-future-0 Pa...

Recent estimates suggest that the 1918 flu pandemic claimed as many as 50 million lives around the world between 1918 and 1919, killing more people in a single year than the entire “Black Death” of the 14th century. As the world confronts a new pandemic, it is worth remembering the history of the “Spanish” flu and how it set us on the path towards our modern flu vaccine. Written by Dr. Jim Harris....

The first “Woman’s Day” celebration took place in Chicago on May 3, 1908. Organized by the U.S. Socialist Party, it brought together an audience of 1,500 women who demanded economic and political equality, on a day officially dedicated to “the female workers’ causes.” The following year, women gathered in New York for a similar celebration. Inspired by these American initiatives, European socialis...

Australian scientists have been successful in growing the Wuham virus in a lab, increasing the possible development of a vaccine for the Corona virus. Just what do we know about the history behind the creation of vaccines? Find out the most important things to know in "Top Ten Origins: Vaccination" written by Dr. Christopher Otter. An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origin...

On April 13, 1919, in Jallianwala Bagh, a square near the Sikh Golden Temple of Amritsar in India, British soldiers led by Colonel Reginald Dyer fired on an unarmed, non-violent crowd of Indians. Learn what led up to the massacre and its repercussions. An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/milestones/april-2019-amritsar-massacre-gandhi-dyer-rowlatt-a...

Written by Mytheli Sreenivas. Narration by Nicholas Breyfogle. 2017 marked the 70th anniversary of two nations, India and Pakistan. Their independence from the British Empire in 1947 prompted a wave of decolonization that spread across Asia and Africa. Yet alongside the victories of independence came the tragedies of partition, whereby British-ruled India was divided into two separate, independent...

In early June 2019, residents of Hong Kong took to the streets to protest proposed legislation by the Hong Kong government that would enable extradition from the city to mainland China. Over the ensuing months, heavy-handed tactics by the police only swelled the movement, which has grown to involve over a million residents of Hong Kong. The demonstrators' demands have also expanded to encompass an...

A pivotal date in Russian history is October 24, 1917, when the Bolsheviks began what is known as the October revolution. Written by Dr. David Hoffmann. Narration by Dr. Nicholas Breyfogle. An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/milestones/november-2017-october-revolution-russia

Voting is perhaps the most fundamental act of democratic citizenship. In a democracy, our political leaders receive their mandate, and the system itself derives its legitimacy, from the people who elect them. In the United States, however, the right to vote has never been extended universally. Although the franchise has expanded to include many more citizens since 1776, these gains have come halti...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (a.k.a. "AMLO") rode to the presidency in 2018 by promising Mexico that "juntos haremos historia" (together we will make history). Pundits have fallen over themselves trying to categorize AMLO, refering to him variously as Mexico's Jeremy Corbyn and Mexico's Donald Trump. AMLO's keen sense of Mexico's history has found expression in his promise to inaugurate the country...

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, famed women’s rights activist, is most closely associated with advocating the right to vote for women and helping to orchestrate the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. An in-text version of this episode can be found at:https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/milestones/november-2015-elizabeth-cady-stanton-wife-mother-revolutionary-thinker

In April 2019, four months of sustained protests throughout Sudan culminated in the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country since taking office in a 1989 military coup. Originally a response to the spiraling cost of living, demonstrators soon widened their criticisms to encompass the full impact of Bashir’s three decades in power: brutal political repression, economic stagna...